Wild and cultivated comestible plant species in the Gulf of Mexico: phylogenetic patterns and convergence of type of use

Abstract

With a database of approximately 500 comestible plants of the Province of the Gulf of Mexico inMesoamerica, phylogenetic analyses are conducted to identify convergence and phylogenetic signal of type of use and significant clustering in the resulting phylogenetic trees. Analyses considered type of management (wild/managed vs cultivated), type of use (edible, condiment, for wrapping food) and organ utilized. Elevated phylogenetic diversity and signal is expected for wild comestible taxa, indicating that peoples are using lineages across the angiosperm tree for food, resulting in broadness in diet and use of their regional resources. Main results are: 1) condiment species were identified in groups with elevated phylogenetic signal; 2) hot nodes for lineages utilized for wrapping food were found in many monocot groups as well as in epiphytes of cloud forests with leathery leaves; 3) edible taxa were identified with the highest significant clustering restricted to certain branches in the phylogeny; 4) wild and cultivated edible plants belong to identical lineages with replacement of species, implying that same plant groups known for their comestible benefits are substituted by species distributed in the Province; 5) wild vs cultivated lineages for condiment are different. Most food species in the Province belong to four families: Fabaceae, Cactaceae, Solanaceae, and Asparagaceae. Analyses discovered underutilized wild species in identical clades to managed/cultivated taxa that can be studied further to identify cultivation practices. Results suggest that people are utilizing different lineages in the angiosperm tree available locally, for particular uses, like condiment or for wrapping food. Evidence can be used to study further undervalued edible species closely related to the most common food taxa as well as for bioprospection of their nutritional content.

Aproximaciones evolutivas en etnobotánica de plantas medicinales y bioprospección

“…Los estudios que conectan la historia evolutiva, el conocimiento tradicional y las opciones de valor de la biodiversidad aún son escasos, pero han demostrado que las especies de plantas útiles se concentran en nodos espe-cíficos de la filogenia (ej. Rønsted et al 2008, Saslis-Lagoudakis et al 2011b, Zhu et al 2011, Tucker et al 2019, Molina-Venegas et al 2020, Molina-Venegas 2021, Díaz-Toribio et al 2023. De esta manera, se resalta la importancia de aplicar el enfoque evolutivo para detectar y describir patrones como la convergencia etnobotánica y el agrupamiento filogenético de las categorías de uso para revelar los procesos bioculturales implicados en la selección de opciones de valor para la biodiversidad (Hart & Cox 2000, Saslis-Lagoudakis et al 2011b.…”

“…Sin embargo, aún son escasos los estudios que exploran la distribución filogenética de plantas útiles en otras partes del mundo (ej. Molina-Venegas et al 2020, Molina-Venegas 2021) y con recientes aportaciones para México (Díaz-Toribio et al 2023. Promover un conocimiento más profundo del patrón evolutivo en plantas medicinales resulta fundamental no sólo para comprender los mecanismos de evolución y las relaciones de ancestro-decendencia de las plantas, sino también porque facilita el descubrimiento y el desarrollo de fármacos de origen vegetal.…”